Echinacea plant named ‘Butter Pecan’

ABSTRACT

The new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant named ‘Butter Pecan’ with inflorescences on branched stems producing single whorls of creamy-yellow ray florets and a large center pompon of disk florets. The disk florets are very long with notched apices and frequently with extra side lobes giving a fuller pompon effect. The new plant flowers from mid-summer to late summer, and is suitable as a potted plant, for the landscape, and for cut flower arrangements.

Botanical denomination: Echinacea hybrid.

Cultivar designation: ‘Butter Pecan’.

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(B)(6)

The first non-enabling disclosures of the claimed plant, in the form of a photograph and brief description on a website operated by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Dec. 1, 2021, followed by a photograph and brief description in the “Walters Gardens 2022-2023 Catalog” on Jun. 8, 2022. The claimed plant was first sold on Aug. 1, 2022, to W.W. Greenhouses by Walters Gardens, Inc., who obtained the new plant and all information relating thereto, from the inventor. No plants of Echinacea ‘Butter Pecan’ have been sold in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made, more than one year prior to the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the new and distinct cultivar of Coneflower from the genus Echinacea and given the cultivar name ‘Butter Pecan’. The new plant was the result of a cross by the inventor of an unnamed proprietary hybrid known as 16-104-1 (not patented) as the female parent and an unnamed proprietary hybrid known as 16-30-1 (not patented) as the male on Aug. 9, 2017, at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. The single seedling selected was evaluated initially in trials in the summer of 2018 at the same nursery and assigned the breeder code of 17-2-1.

Echinacea ‘Butter Pecan’ has been asexually propagated at the same nursery by crown division and also using careful shoot tip tissue culture procedures and found to reproduce plants that exhibit all the characteristics identical to the original plant in successive generations.

Echinacea ‘Butter Pecan’ is distinct from all other Coneflowers known to the inventor. The nearest comparison cultivars are: ‘BALSCLEMC’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,858, ‘Tnechcmy’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,142, ‘Butterfly Kisses’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,458, ‘Little Annie’ (not patented), ‘Solar Flare’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,133, ‘Coconut Lime’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,617, and ‘Julia’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,629.

The female parent plant, 16-104-1, has a single row of pinkish-purple ray florets and the habit was significantly taller with less basal branching. The male parent plant, 16-30-1, has pinkish-purple ray florets and large pinkish-purple disk florets in a pompon effect.

‘BALSCLEMC’ has a much taller habit and the pompon disk florets are less yellowish-green when opening and lighter yellow with maturity. ‘Tnechcmy’ is taller in habit, inflorescences that have shorter ray florets of a deeper yellow color, and the pompon disk florets are more orangish colored. ‘Butterfly Kisses’ has light pinkish-purple ray florets and a darker pompom of darker purplish-pink disk florets. ‘Little Annie’ has a slightly taller habit with single purple-pink ray florets and without pompon disk florets. ‘Solar Flare’ has a single row of ray florets that are magenta rose and without pompon disk florets. ‘Coconut Lime’ has a taller habit, the ray and disk florets are paler greenish-yellow and the disk florets are much smaller without the occasional side lobe. ‘Julia’ has a single row of ray florets that are tangerine orange.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Echinacea ‘Butter Pecan’ has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in the environment including: growing temperature, available sunlight, nutrients, water, etc. without a change in the genotype of the plant. The new plant is distinct from its parents and all other Echinacea known to the applicant in the following combined traits:

-   -   1. Inflorescences of creamy-yellow ray florets;     -   2. Large disk florets of creamy-yellow;     -   3. Center pompon of disk florets that have notched apices and         frequent side lobes causing a fuller pompon effect;     -   4. Vigorous growth and short, compact habit;     -   5. Medium-green ovate to narrowly ovate foliage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The photographs of ‘Butter Pecan’ demonstrate the overall appearance of the plant including the unique traits. The drawings of the new plant are of a two-year-old plant grown in a full-sun trial garden in Zeeland, Mich. The colors are as accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Some slight variation of color may occur as a result of lighting quality, intensity, wavelength, direction, or reflection.

FIG. 1 shows the habit of the new plant in the flower.

FIG. 2 shows a close-up of some inflorescences at different stages.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT

The following description of Echinacea ‘Butter Pecan’ is based on observations of two-year-old specimens grown in a partially-shaded greenhouse and in a full-sun trial garden in Zeeland, Mich. The new plant has not been tested in all environments and some phenotypic differences may occur with different environments without, however, any change in genotype. The color descriptions are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary descriptions are used.

-   Parentage: Female or seed parent is the proprietary unreleased     hybrid 16-104-1 comprising a complex cross with ‘Solar Flare’ U.S.     Plant Pat. No. 22,133, ‘Little Annie’ (not patented), and ‘Butterfly     Kisses’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,458 and male parent is the     proprietary unreleased hybrid 16-30-1 comprising a complex crossing     with offspring from ‘Julia’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,629 and     ‘Butterfly Kisses’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,458; -   Plant habit: Multi-stemmed, freely-branched, hardy herbaceous     perennial, flowering to about 30 cm tall and 36 cm wide with foliage     to 27 cm tall and 40 cm wide; -   Growth rate: Vigorous, finishing in 4-liter containers in about 2     months during the summer; -   Roots: Cream-colored, finely branched; -   Foliage: Alternate; ovate to narrowly ovate; acute apex; cuneate     base; margin micro-ciliolate and serrulate with teeth to about 0.5     mm long and 0.5 mm wide; hirsutulous abaxial and adaxial; to about     8.5 cm long and 4 cm wide decreasing distally, average about 7 cm     long and 3.1 cm wide; -   Leaf color: Young leaves adaxial between RHS 137B and RHS 146A,     abaxial nearest RHS 137B; mature leaves adaxial nearest NN137B,     abaxial between RHS 137C and RHS NN137D; variegation absent; -   Foliage fragrance: Lightly herbal; -   Venation: Pinnate; abaxial midrib and veins costate; glabrous     adaxial, hirsutulous abaxial; -   Vein color: Adaxial midrib and primary veins nearest RHS 145C,     secondary nearest RHS 146D; abaxial midrib and primary veins between     RHS 145A and RHS 146D, secondary nearest RHS 146D; -   Petiole: Concavo-convex; glabrous adaxial; and finely hirsutulous     abaxial; to about 7.5 cm long and 6 mm wide at the base on lowest     leaves and decreasing to nearly sessile distally; -   Petiole color: Adaxial nearest 145C, abaxial between RHS 145C and     RHS 144C; -   Stem: Hirsutulous; cylindrical, fistulous; strong and stiff; to     about 27 cm long including peduncle and about 6.5 mm diameter at     base; average 25 cm long and 6 mm diameter; about 6 to 8 per plant; -   Stem color: Proximally nearest RHS 146C and distally nearest RHS     146B; -   Peduncle: Hirsutulous; terete; strong; stiff; branched; about 10 cm     long and 5 mm diameter above last leaves; quantity per stem about     four to six; aspect ascending, upright; -   Peduncle color: Proximally nearest RHS 146B; -   Internode: 6 to 9 per stem; average about 3.6 cm long, shorter     proximally and longer distally; node color same as surrounding     peduncle; -   Branches: Cylindrical; hirsutulous; tightly angled to main stem to     about 60° above horizontal: about 5 to 7 branches per stem; to about     14 cm long and 3.5 mm diameter; -   Branch color: Proximally nearest RHS 146B; -   Inflorescence: Bracteate head, aggregate of achene; with single     whorl of distinct ligulate ray florets and enlarged disk florets     above pappus producing a pompon effect; flowering mid-summer to late     summer; initial inflorescence largest, to about 8.5 cm wide and 5 cm     tall, with inner pompon to 6.5 cm across and 5 cm tall; to 4 to 6     inflorescences per peduncle; -   Inflorescence fragrance: Not observed; -   Flower persistence: Remaining effective in color for 10 to 14 days     depending on temperatures, cone drying on plant and effective into     winter; -   Involucre: With numerous bracts, about 50 to 60 per inflorescence in     3 to 4 whorls; arcuate downward toward peduncle; -   Involucre bracts: Lanceolate; narrowly acute apex; truncate base;     micro-ciliolate margin; adaxial glabrous to micro-puberulent;     abaxial hirsutulous; to about 9 mm long and 3.5 mm across decreasing     distally; color adaxial center between RHS 137A and RHS 139A,     abaxial nearest RHS 137A; -   Inflorescence buds with ray florets vertical and still enrolled:     About 25 mm across and 20 mm tall; ray floret color between RHS 145B     and RHS 145C, disk florets nearest RHS 144B, and spines nearest RHS     153C; -   Ray florets: Ligulate; zygomorphic; arrangement in single whorl,     frequently moderately imbricate; apex emarginated with two notches     to 6 mm deep and an occasional side lobe to 12 mm long and 3.5 mm     wide; base attenuate; margin entire; adaxial and abaxial surfaces     matte; 14 to 18 per inflorescence; opening to horizontal, drooping     up to 30 degrees below horizontal with maturity; flat, twisting     absent; sterile; ray floret to 37 mm long and 10 mm wide near     middle, base 2.5 mm wide; average size 35 mm long, 9 mm wide at     center tapering to 2 mm wide at base; adaxial veins thickened and     raised; -   Ray floret color: Changing with maturity; when first horizontal     young adaxial nearest RHS 16B, lightening to RHS 11C in mid-open     period, and nearest RHS N155C proximally and between RHS 149D and     RHS 145C at apex before dropping, basal 3 to 4 mm remaining constant     between RHS 146A and RHS 146D in both adaxial and abaxial; abaxial     beginning nearest RHS 4C when first horizontal, becoming nearest 4D     in mid-open period, and nearest RHS 157C proximally with apex     nearest RHS 149D before dropping; -   Disk florets: About 400 to 450 per inflorescence; zygomorphic;     perfect; produced in raised dome about 6.5 cm across and 5 cm tall,     individually about 23 mm long and 9 mm wide;     -   -   Disk floret corolla.—Fused forming tube; to about 19 mm long             and 9 mm wide at apex, fused in tube in basal 12 mm, free in             distal 7 mm; individual tepals about 2.5 mm wide at fusion;             acute apex; entire margin; both surfaces slightly lustrous.         -   Disk floret corolla tube color.—Adaxial and abaxial             initially up opening nearest RHS 150C, becoming between RHS             18A and 18B both adaxial and abaxial, in late stage of             flowering adaxial nearest RHS 18B and abaxial nearest RHS             18C.         -   Androecium.—Not observed on either ray florets or disk             florets.         -   Gynoecium.—On ray florets only; single; to 5 mm long.         -   Style.—Single or split into up to five; to about 4 mm long             and 0.2 mm diameter with shorter split styles of various             lengths; color nearest RHS 155B.         -   Stigma.—Split into up to five; about 1 mm long and 0.1 mm             diameter; color nearest RHS 15B.         -   Fruit.—Has not yet been observed. -   Receptacle spines: With disk florets; acicular; glabrous; lustrous;     to 11 mm long and 2 mm across near middle; producing a cone about 28     mm wide and 25 mm tall; -   Spine color: With ray florets first horizontal apices nearest RHS     145A, center portion nearest 28A, and bases nearest RHS NN155C;     mature flower apices and middle nearest RHS 183A, base between RHS     145D and RHS NN155C; -   Disease resistance: Resistance and susceptibility beyond that of     other hardy Coneflower cultivars have not been observed. -   Growth: The plant grows best with plenty of moisture and adequate     drainage but is able to tolerate some drought when mature. -   Winter hardiness: at least from USDA zone 4 through 8. 

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea plant named ‘Butter Pecan’ as herein described and illustrated. 